The function of the artist is to express reality as felt. Robert Motherwell

Thursday, October 29, 2009

I Can't Resist!

Yeesh!

Using a resist is difficult.

Remember my other hideous bowl?

This is even worse.

I cut a piece of thin craft foam into a 'U' shape and covered it with wool roving on both sides, then again on each side with the fiber running in a perpendicular direction to my first application.

I must have gotten it too thick at the bowl bottom, though, since no amount of vigorous rubbing could even out the bowl walls.

I also tried to include cut-work leaves for decoration, but I covered them with too much fiber (to hold them in place) and the end result was merely leaf-shaped 'bumps'.

...and what is that orange thing in the bottom of the bowl? No, not a goldfish, but a dyed curly lock. Ummmmm....better in theory than in practice!

My 'fixes' for this project were to needle-felt leaf designs onto the finished and dried bowl...very so-so.

What did I learn? Well...I need a lot more practice using a resist, and next time, I need to be a little more careful with the amount of fiber I use when going around the edges (esp. bottom!) of my resist.

A resist is just a piece of plastic or cardboard (I like using the foam underlayment for hardwood'floating' floors) that 'resists' the wool--keeps it from sticking together. It is used whenever you want a vessel or garment... anything with an opening that you want to maintain.Yes--as decoration or to hold things like jewelry or hair elastics, etc.